Malevolent Dark's review of Dark the Halls. Honest... it's an entertaining holiday alternative with a horror twist you'll enjoy. #LiteraryGhostStory #DarkTheHalls #WriterSky #HorrorWriters #HorrorCommunity #Spooky #SlowBurnHorror #HolidayHorror #HolidayGhosts

Hope you celebrate the day in your own way.

Dickens warned us the past never really stays past. Dark the Halls takes that to heart. #PsychologicalHorror #EmotionalHorror #QuietHorror #AtmosphericHorror #HorrorBooks #Booksky #OldHollywood #QueerHorror #LiteraryHorror #GhostStories #DarkFiction

Ran into Congressman Robert Garcia again on our usual walking route. Just thanked him for standing up to bad actors and keeping us from sliding too far backward. He’s humble and kind. #RobertGarcia #LongBeach #Politics #Community #Gratitude

I finally got tired of Barley coming home from the groomer sick or terrified. So I bought my own clippers and scissors, studied up, and from now on I’ll be grooming my little guy myself. Gentle hands only. #DogsOfBluesky

Happy Halloween!

Has it been three decades since this book first found its way into readers’ hands? Apparently, I’ve been writing long enough that my early works evidently qualify as “classics.” (Translation: I’m officially old.) Coming Summer of 2026 the 30 Year Anniversary Edition! #writerslife #booksky #familiars

Seattle lingers like fog in a good way. It was quiet, thoughtful, tame in the best sense. It’s already tugging at me. Might make this home one day.

Hey all. What started as a contemplation on power, corruption, and the humans that inhabit these spaces has become fully realized. Dark the Halls is out. Sad, funny, terrifying. Find it wherever books make trouble. #DarkTheHalls #horror #literaryhorror #booksky #horrorauthors #releaseday #spooky

Have you read Polly Schattel’s work? Brilliant. I’ve learned from her the importance of unflinching courage to take horror to its wildest ends. Even when a narrative flies off the rails (in the best possible ways) she's shown to follow those beats to their unstoppable conclusions. #booksky #horror

Halloween is up suckahs!

Save the Cat is based on Campbell's mono-myth and his cross cultural survey of myth and fairy tale. It may be systematized, but it is the language of the unconscious, and of personal transformation. I'm gettin' a copy. #amwriting #booksky #mythic #josephcampbell #writersky

Jesus Christ. Tylenol? Please just be raptured.

Weapons floored me. A slow burn that explodes into chaos and shows off pure creative genius. Genre-benders will love it. Writers and creatives should check it out for the sheer imagination.

Cancelling hulu abc/disney or any affiliate today. #f-him #cowards #gofyourselves

Wait. Lady Sybil dies? No. I'm in denial. Downton Abbey season 3. #harsh #traumatic #ptsd

Author proof arrived. Looks great in person. #DarkTheHalls #IndieAuthor #Booksky #BookProof #WritingCommunity #AmWritingHorror #BookLaunch #HalloweenReads #WinterReads

Dark the Halls is live on NetGalley. If you are a reviewer or are interested in seeing an advance reader copy (and hopefully) rating at Goodreads or elsewhere, please DM me and I'll send a private link. #writinglife #arc #horror #booksky #literaryhorror #spooky

The cover is revealed… and now the press is live. Visit GravenImagePress.com to see the home of Dark the Halls and future titles. #Publishing #WriterLife #Horror

Dark the Halls finalized book cover! 🔥 ARC reader links coming soon. #BookSky #Horror #WriterLife #WritingCommunity #CoverReveal #HorrorCommunity #Spooky #SpecLit

Cover reveal for Dark the Halls. Release: 10/25. Hollywood, 1934. A deserted studio. A flickering reel. Film mogul Bramwell Finch must watch every sin he's buried, until the film delivers its final cut. #WriterSky #Booksky #HorrorStory #Haunted #WriterLife #AmPublishing

Working on the book cover with the very talented Don Noble! Updates to come. The image is stunning. Ghastly. Hits just the right notes. #BookSky #BookCover #Horrorbooks #Horrorauthors #WritersLife #NewRelease #Spooky

The book cover mock up will be done this weekend. Once I have a cover, I'll set up for ARC reviews! Getting excited. Looks like mid-October release. #WritingLife #BookSky #AmEditing #IndieHorror #LiteraryGhost #Haunting

Went on vacation in the Caribbean. Humidity so intense it required gills. Still look at this beauty.

Good news. My editor has returned the manuscript. I'd been holding my breath for a couple of weeks. You know how it goes. But it came back with high praise. I can breathe again. Final polish time. #AmEditing #BookSky #Horror #LiteraryGhostStory #WritingLife #OctoberRelease

Hey all. The seasons turn once again to first harvest called Lammas and Lughnassadh. Focus is on reaping, taking stock of action and its results. Everything is cause and effect. Can't ditch it. But you can live with it mindfully. #Lughnassadh #JohnBarleyCorn #Lammas #TheWheelTurns #Harvest

Something weird in the water. Spotted a circular submerged light in the Caribbean Sea between St. Thomas and Puerto Rico. It is overcast and earlier I saw only a slim crescent: not enough to cover this specific defined circular area. Not surface light. Lit from below. What am I seeing? #ufo

The new novel is in the editor's hands now. The good news is Joe's read half (with just my edits) and says he's "entranced" and loves it. I came in during his reading, called his name, and he screamed. My work is done. #AmEditing #BookSky #Horror-stories #HorrorSky #WriterSky #WritingLife

I grew up with summers at the beach. Now I have a totally "not embarrassing at all" obsession with surfing movies and competitions. I don't surf. But my brothers do. I was the boogie board kid. Do I cry when someone nails a 360 air reverse? Maybe. Do I pretend I know what that is? Also maybe.

Barley is getting tired of the slow service around here. Long Island Iced Tea, pronto, or he's leaving a two-star.

Quite the summer haul! #summertime #fresh #organic #Yum

I can think of a lot of things I'd do! How 'bout you? Paperback: mybook.to/Reinventing Ebook: mybook.to/ReinventingE... Audio: Audiobooks.com: bit.ly/3tus3vc Audible: adbl.co/35l4nl7 Libro.fm: bit.ly/3KdhOlF iTunes: bit.ly/3KzC29G Kobo Audiobooks: www.kobo.com/us/en/audiob...

People seem less and less concerned about #consequences lately. At this point, I’d welcome one of Whitley Strieber’s aliens to beam me up to Planet #Zoloft, where everyone floats around smiling faintly… and no one remembers why. #Beammeup #WTH

Oh #Editors. Don't you have anything better to do than hack with your butchering logic and slicing insights at my gorgeous, flawless, errorless prose? Someone's gotta do it, I s'pose. I can't look! #Booksky #Horror #WIP #AmEditing #YoullBeSorry

11 years ago I got hitched to this guy. He hasn't kicked me out yet. As Martha Stewart used to say, "it's a good thing."

Brace yourselves. Living n the edge of #absurdity as I do, you may not be surprised to find out I was once a stage performer. Here I am at 17 at #Disneyland in a Christmas parade as a #TapDancing penguin. #PastLives #WritingLife #CrazinessOfYouth #Dancer

#DogsOfBluesky #Cute #Troublemaker Barley says when in doubt, bundle up in a blanket.

Well the final draft is done. There was a scare with text duplications while grammar checking. But that's resolved and it looks great! Rest, then off to the editor! #WritingLife #BookSky #AmEditing #AmQuerying #LiteraryHorror #Horror #FinalDraft #FinalEdit

Went to my first New Orleans jazz funeral today. A neighbor who was a prominent jazz saxophonist passed and his friends from all over the country came, lined up with their brass, and marched. It was incredibly moving.

Please share 🥰 this is the last day to grab a free copy. This one is short and you can probably read it in an hour or so. Remember to leave a review. 🖤 a.co/d/7MwN24Y

The Huntington Library is an annual pilgrimage for me. Art, gardens. Prefect distraction from worries of the day and the frazzle that comes with writing.

20 pages and a few tweaks from my husband who always gets the first read. Off to the editor after July 10th. But might dare to look for representation. Or a small house. #AmEditing #AlmostDone #Writing #Horror #Indie #BookSky

#FREE for everyone 6/20-6/24! In this #spicy Peter Pan retelling for adults, Neverland is in danger from an ancient Aztec god who can transform into a crocodile. Petra seeks fencing champion Eirwen Darling to help save the day. www.amazon.com/dp/B07CR4L59C #romance #fantasy #booksky #booklover

Summer Solstice blessings! #Summer #Summersolstice #Pagan #Witchery #Druids #StoneHenge

50 pages from THE END and I’m feeling all the feels: triumphant, exhausted, overly attached to fictional people, and slightly feral. Send snacks. Send edits. Send emotional support ghosts. #AmWriting #AlmostDone #horror #Booksky #FinalStretch #LiteraryGhostStory #HauntedAndProud

Probably 10-15k people at this No Kings protest. Peaceful. Energizing. Unifying. #NoKings

Thought I was polishing the final draft. Turns out I am performing literary surgery with tweezers and a headlamp. So many tiny things to rectify! It's like fixing lace with a scalpel. 🧵✂️📚 #AmEditing #WriterLife #FinalDraft #BookNerd #AuthorProblems #HauntedByTypos #blueskywriters #booksky

I just called my congressman and screamed like a batshit activist on a triple espresso. I’m not even an activist. I’m a writer. And now… a deeply rattled American with a sore throat. #WritersOfBluesky #DemocracyIsLoud #CallYourRep #AmericanPanic #IJustWantedToWriteBooks

Here in L.A. over the weekend, under federal direction, the city was raided by military operations. The beaches and streets were almost empty. Latinos and other immigrants stayed home and feared for the worst. This is America?? Jesus.

Hey! Learning about mental health like signs and symptoms won’t make you "catch" anything. That’s called psychoeducation, and it’s encouraged. Knowledge reduces stigma. #MentalHealth #Psychoeducation #EndStigma #MentalHealthAwareness